


The Way Things Are

by inabsurd



Category: Tales of Berseria
Genre: Canon Compliant, Eleanor's just chillin', F/M, Laphicet's a spy, Magilou's a bad mother, Non-Explicit Sex, Rokurou's in denial, Secret Relationship, The Talk™, Velvet and Eizen are horny teens, spoilers for events within the game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-04 15:42:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13367865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inabsurd/pseuds/inabsurd
Summary: Eizen and Velvet are acting different and it’s up to Laphicet to investigate. He doesn’t really know what to look for though and Magilou is hell-bent on explaining it to him in explicit detail.





	The Way Things Are

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vigilant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vigilant/gifts).



> I wrote it as part of the Tales of Secret Santa exchange for AO3 user vigilant! I'm really happy you liked your gift, I'm sorry I'm only just uploading it now...  
> Big Thanks to silver_fish for proofreading this for me and giving me the confidence to post it in the first place, I wuv you <33333

When Velvet and Eizen start spending more time with each other than with anyone else, no one thinks anything of it. After all, it’s only natural that the person leading their little revenge/save the world scheme and the person steering the literal ship have to communicate a lot; make a plan, figure out where to go, plot the course, all the little details that no one besides those two and the bundle of walking questions called Laphicet really care for.

The two just work so well together and it’s such a natural transition; overall, nothing really changes so no one pays it any mind. Except for Magilou of course, whose eyes sparkle with mischievousness whenever she notices how close they stand together.

“I’m telling you, something’s up with them!” she whines. Laphicet has watched her get shot down a total of four times so far but she is nothing if not determined.

“Velvet? Nah,” says Rokurou, shaking his head in disbelief. “She’s way too busy with the whole ‘killing the Shepherd’ thing to ever date.”

Magilou grins. “Who said anything about dating? It could just be a simple stress relief. Saving the world and murdering your family can be  _ pretty _ taxing on a person.”

Rokurou’s eyes widen, although Laphicet has no idea why.

“No way, I know Eizen,” he says confidently. “He’d probably start ranting about, I don’t know, the history of hookups? Trust me, he’d bore Velvet to death and she’d eat him just to make it stop.”

“She’d eat him, alright, but in a different way than what you’re thinking…”

Before Rokurou has a chance to answer, the boy interrupts, “Velvet’s gonna eat Eizen?”

Rokurou and Magilou freeze, look each other in the eyes, and in perfect sync respectively answer:

“No!”

“Yup!”

The two then proceed to have a stare off of epic proportions.

Laphicet, used to Magilou’s antics at this point, pays her no mind. “Well, what are you guys talking about, then?” He tilts his head to the side.

“Uh…”

“Yes, what  _ are  _ you talking about?”

Had it not been for his years of training, Rokurou would have jumped out of his skin at Velvet’s hard tone. Magilou, however, is not quite as fortunate.

“N-n-nothing!” she yelps.

“Hm.” The younger woman seems to consider pressing the issue, but, in the end, deems the information she might get to not be worth the trouble of jumping through Magilou’s conversational hoops. “Anyway, we’ll be at Hellawes in half an hour, so make sure you’re ready.” And with that, she turns on her heel and rejoins Eizen at the helm.

Magilou whisper-shouts triumphantly as soon as Velvet is out of earshot. “Ha! You see! They’re at it again already!”

“At what?” asks Laphicet.

“Look at Velvet!” continues the witch as if she wasn’t interrupted. “She’s warning Eizen that we’re onto them as we speak!”

Velvet was indeed speaking to Eizen and looking down at them as she did so, clearly discussing what had just happened.

“C’mon, that could be anything,” Rokurou denies. “She’s probably just warning Eizen that you’re being even weirder than usual.”

“Trust me, I’m an excellent judge of these type of things.”

Laphicet, finally fed up with being ignored, stomps his foot and yells, “Will someone please tell me what is going on?”

Magilou heaves a mighty sigh before turning towards the younger boy. “Velvet,” she says slowly, “And Eizen...are in…a relationship!”

The blond malak tilts his head in confusion. “A relationship?”

“Yeah, you know like, sitting together under the stars or lighting a bunch of candles in the bedroom and--”

“Magilou, he is ten years old!” Rokurou screeches. Magilou is fondly reminded of a feral cat protecting her young what with the way he hisses and sputters. Laphicet just looks between the two, confusion swimming in his eyes.

Magilou nods. “Exactly! And what better time than now to teach him all about the birds and the bees?” she teases. “He’s going to find out eventually.”

“Absolutely not!” To emphasise his point, Rokurou takes a step closer to Laphicet, as if preparing to grab him and run at a moment's notice.

“Rokurou, I already know what birds and bees are,” Laphicet chimes in.

“Yeah, Rokurou,” mocks the witch. “What harm could I really do?” She leans down to Laphicet’s level. “Listen carefully, kiddo, today is the day you become a man!”

Rokurou wastes no time and promptly claps his hands over Laphicet’s ears.

Magilou sighs in defeat. “Fine, fine, I’ll preserve the boy’s innocence...for now,”

Although hesitant, Rokurou does release Laphicet from his hold.

“What was that all about?” he asks, turning on Rokurou angrily.

“Well, I...er…”

Magilou giggles. “Never mind that, I have a special mission for you!”

Laphicet’s eyes narrow. “What kind of mission?”

“I’m glad you asked.” The witch spins around excitedly. “It’s a mission of the utmost secrecy,” she whispers, using her hand to shield her lips movement from Velvet’s and Eizen’s watchful gazes. “I need someone to keep a close eye on Velvet, and who better to do that and get information out of her than the one she trusts most?”

“You want me to spy on Velvet?” the malak’s tone is soft but undeniably disappointed.

“Spy is such a strong word.” She screws up her face in exaggerated distaste. “Think of it more as…research,”

“Research?” Rokurou deadpans.

“Yes.” She shoots the daemon a glare. “Don’t you want to know more about Velvet?”

“Well, yes-”

“And aren’t you curious about what she and Eizen are doing?”

“But what  _ are  _ they doing? I don’t understand what you’re talking about!”

Magilou shouts, “Exactly! That’s what you’re gonna find out.”

In the end, Laphicet is all but forced to concede. He protests for all his worth, but Magilou is relentless and, with her threat against Rokurou to give him  _ The Talk  _ (whatever that means), even he had caved and begged him to agree.

So now he’s a spy. Perhaps not the best spy, but a spy nonetheless.

As soon as they dock at Hellawes, Laphicet gives Rokurou a determined nod and then scampers down to join Velvet.

Velvet who is already accompanied Eizen.

From further up the dock, he sees Magilou smirk at him

If he’s being honest, he really has no idea what to look for. Magilou said that they were in a relationship but based on his knowledge and what Magilou has told him, that could mean many different things.

But with the way the witch spoke earlier, Laphicet has no doubt that she hadn’t meant friendship. Which is...odd, to be frank. They clearly get along well, perhaps even better than they do with anyone else, so if they aren’t friends, then what are they?

Despite his reluctance to spy on his friends, however, Laphicet finds himself strangely immersed in his task. He feels a little guilty about it, but, overall, the thirst for answers is stronger. Mostly, he just wants to be able to sleep soundly tonight without weird Magilou-inspired-ideas floating around in his brain; speaking from personal experience, that never ends well.

He stays close to his target as they set off through the town. Velvet is preoccupied and so the young malak opts to simply observe rather than straight out ask her about it. Maybe he will later, but for now, he can learn a lot about the relationship just by watching. Human actions can be quite telling when they think no one is paying much attention and apparently this rule applies to daemon lords and earth malaks as well.

With Magilou, Rokurou, and Eleanor in the lead, Velvet and Eizen seem to relax slightly. Laphicet trails behind them but with how...distracted they are, he doubts that they’ll notice; he’s so short they probably think he’s up with the others.

Perhaps distracted is the wrong word, though; immersed would fit better. It’s like the world has melted around them and it’s just the two of them. They’re walking so close that their shoulders brush constantly and their eyes are either locked to each other or briefly to the ground. Laphicet can’t see either of their faces except for the sides when they look at the other. The expressions he catches are soft and unguarded. It is so different than how they usually look.

Actually, he’s only ever seen Velvet look this...soft (for lack of a better word) when they had first visited Aball and Melchoir had deceived them into thinking the village had survived. During that time Velvet had been so happy and carefree; seeing her look at Eizen reminds him of that.

His musings are short lived, however, as Eleanor calls out to him, “Laphicet, what are you doing back there?”

Laphicet jumps. In front of him, he sees Velvet and Eizen do the same. He runs to catch up with Eleanor and as he passes by he notices Eizen eying him suspiciously.

“Hi, Eleanor,” he greets, falling into step beside the ex-praetor.

“Why were you walking alone? Is everything alright?”

Laphicet nods. “I’m alright.” He pauses for a moment and then asks, “Do Velvet and Eizen seem to be acting strange to you?”

“Hmm…” She glances back at the two, who have since separated slightly. They speak in hushed tones as they had earlier on the ship. “Well, they’ve certainly been more private than usual. I mean, they’re both very private people, but now they’re being private...together?” she says thoughtfully. Her eyes widen suddenly. “Do you know something? Are they keeping secrets from us? Is something wrong?”

The young malak waves his hands in front of him as if trying to physically dispel Eleanor’s worry. “I think everything’s fine. Magilou just said that they’re in a relationship so...well, do you think they are?”

Eleanor looks up at the sky in consideration. “They could be,” she finally says.

“But they could not be?”

“Yeah, it could go either way with them,” she glances back at them again. “But I don’t think I’ve ever seen either of them like this. You’ve known them longer so you might know better but I think this is different.”

Laphicet screws up his face in thought. “What does it mean? If two people are in a relationship how is it different from what the rest of us have?”

The exorcist’s face flushes. “W-well, people in a relationship tend to be more...physical with each other, like holding hands or kissing,”

“Do they always do that? I haven’t seen them hold hands or anything,”

Eleanor nods. “Most of the time they do, but really it just depends on who is in the relationship,”

“Oh. Is that the only difference?”

“Hmm, people who are in relationships usually want to spend the rest of their lives together,” she adds, smiling softly at the thought.

The malak’s eyes widen. “Does that mean Eizen and Velvet don’t want to spend time with us?”

“No, no, no.” She shakes her head, “It’s more like...umm…” Eleanor glances at him nervously, “Like...what Artorius and Celica had!”

Laphicet tilts his head curiously.

“When Innominat showed us scenes from Velvet’s past, we saw Artorius and Celica fall in love,” she explains. “They both obviously cared about Velvet and her brother but they were each other's most important person. Artorius cared about her so much that when she died during the Opening, he changed completely,”

He nods. “I see,”

“Does it bug you to think of Velvet in that kind of relationship?”

The malak adopts a thoughtful expression before his face breaks out into a sunny smile. “No, if Velvet ever has a relationship like that I just want the person to make her happy,”

Eleanor returns his smile but before she can reply, Laphicet is pounced on by one-hundred-and-some-pounds of overly eager witch.

“Mayday! Mayday! Why did you abandon your post? We’ll all be killed because of you!”

Laphicet yelps in pain. “Magilou, get off!” He shoves at her with no success. She clings to and hangs off of him like a jacket thrown on a very tiny coat rack; unfortunately for him, Magilou weighs a fair bit more than a coat.

“Leave him alone.” Rokurou calmly picks up the woman and pulls her off.

“Thanks,” Laphicet sighs in relief.

Meanwhile, Magilou has spent her few seconds suspended in the air screeching. “Put me down, you heathen! You two are compromising this entire operation!”

From his position, Laphicet can practically see the alarm bells going off in Eleanor’s head.

“What operation?” she asks suspiciously.

The blonde haired woman seems to notice the change as well and goes from a flailing ball of indignation to frantically trying to repair the damage in the blink of an eye. “Did I say operation?  I meant nation; these two troublemakers are destroying the hard work of our saviour Shepherd Artorius and ruining this great nation! Shame on both of you!”

“Magilou,” explains Rokurou as he throws her over his shoulder, “has this crazy conspiracy that Eizen and Velvet are dating so she sent Laphicet to spy on them,”

“Oh, so that’s why you were asking about it.” Eleanor smiles at the malak before rounding on Magilou. Rokurou has continued walking so Eleanor lags behind a bit so she can be face-to-face with the witch. “You can’t make Laphicet do your bidding,” she scolds.

Magilou huffs and rests her head on her hand which she has propped on the daemon’s back. “I didn’t make him do anything! Rokurou’s the one who pressured the kid.”

“I was blackmailed!”

A fight instantly breaks out and rather than try to pry information out of them, Eleanor looks to Laphicet in hopes of an explanation.

“Magilou wanted to give me  _ The Talk _ ,” he repeats dutifully. “I don’t understand what’s so bad about birds and bees, though.”

Eleanor’s face goes shock white to tomato red in a matter of seconds. “Magilou!”

The blonde scoffs. “You two are such prudes. I bet Laphicet would appreciate my teaching.”

“Don’t you dare.” The ex-praetor’s eyes narrow.

Magilou smirks. “When two people love each other very much-“

Laphicet—fortunately or unfortunately, he’s not quite sure—doesn’t get to hear the rest of the explanation due to Eleanor grabbing him by the face and pulling him bodily into her chest to shield him from the words being spoken. On top of that, Rokurou begins jumping up and down as if to shake the evil right out of his captive, Magilou squawks in distress.

Although Laphicet can’t see much of the scene himself, he imagines they look quite silly to Velvet and Eizen walking a few metres behind them.

The boy tries to stifle his giggles but despite Eleanor physically smothering, him he can’t restrain himself. At first, they come in small bursts like the beginning of a firework show. The first few were small and unimpressive but quickly built in intensity until they burst from his throat loudly and in quick succession.

Everyone freezes.

“What’s so funny?” Eleanor asks, pulling back.

“Us,” he manages through his giggles.”We must look ridiculous!”

Rokurou is the first to give in, laughing heartily along with Laphicet’s small chuckles. From there, it’s a chain reaction that Magilou and Eleanor are quick to join in on.

More laughter soon joins in. “You four  _ do  _ look ridiculous,” says Velvet fondly.

Laphicet jumps.

“Mind explaining what’s going on here?” Eizen asks.

Laphicet jumps again. He’s not sure why he’s so surprised, given that he’s been watching Velvet and Eizen together all day, but, for some reason, he hadn’t expected the older malak to appear behind him.

The blond isn’t the only one caught by surprise; around him, everyone else is shifting around guiltily at being caught.

Except for Magilou of course. She quickly gets over her shock and pushes herself up from Rokurou’s shoulder. “These two won’t let me give the kid important worldly knowledge!”

Eleanor huffs in frustration. “She wants to give Laphicet  _ The Talk _ !”

The small malak sighs as chaos erupts around him for the third time today. Eizen surprisingly sides with Magilou while Velvet takes a firm stance against them. Silently, Laphicet wonders if taking different sides is a usual thing for couples or if this means they’re actually not together or if he’s just officially spent too much time with Magilou today and is reading too far into it. It’s probably the latter in all honesty.

“He’s too young,” Velvet waves her hand dismissively.

“He’s ten,” Eizen argues. “And he’s going to be around for a long time. Isn’t it better for him to hear this from us rather than overhearing it from an unsuspecting human he passes by?”

“Okay, but it’s not like he needs to learn about it today!”

“Why not today, Rokurou?” Magilou asks smugly. “What difference does it make if he finds out a week or a year from now?”

Eleanor shakes her head. “Laphicet only regained his free will this year! There is no way you can justify scarring him when he’s still so new to the world!”

Laphicet gives up on trying to follow the argument and finds a nice rock to sit on, away from the arguing.

Everyone involved is surprisingly passionate about their opinions and the argument lasts long into the night. Magilou had once told him that the classic cats or dogs argument divided nations, but his friends had barely responded to that, whereas now they are throwing everything they have into it. Honestly, Laphicet is surprised that it hasn’t become a full-blown fist fight.

They do wind down, although, as far as he can tell, a consensus has yet to be reached. However, by the time they do, it’s late and everyone is tired. What should have been quick trip through the Faldies Ruins quickly turns into an overnight sleepover (which it technically would have been anyway; they had just expected to be past the front entrance at this point).

Eleanor, Magilou, and Laphicet are tasked with clearing away stones and laying out the animal skins while Rokurou starts on the fire. Velvet and Eizen leave to scout the perimeter together, which Laphicet finds rather odd, considering they would usually separate to cover more ground.

“Go after them,” Magilou whispers conspiratory. “Complete your mission, Soldier.”

The malak nods and rushes after them. Behind him, he can hear Magilou yelling about something, likely to distract the others from his disappearance.

Normally, when someone left to check the perimeter it was a fifteen minutes process. Normally, they didn’t go far out of sight. Normally, they didn’t leave together.

Eizen and Velvet are not being normal tonight.

Laphicet heads farther and farther into the ruins but he can’t seem to find them. They are well outside the unspoken boundaries and while he can take care of himself, he also knows that it’s dangerous to be without backup. The Abbey has proven itself time and time again to be underhanded and well prepared. Those two combined with heading off on his own would only lead to trouble.

The malak is about to turn back to see if perhaps he missed them when he hears a noise. Rhythmic thumping is emanating from farther into the ruins. Laphicet glances back towards the camp before turning and heading towards the noise. He decides that since it’s not too much farther in and he has no way of knowing if there’s actually any danger or not, it would be better to do reconnaissance first and then determine if it was a threat and how to deal with it.

Nodding determinedly to himself, he sets off towards the noise.

His footsteps echo lightly as he walks through the hallways. Normally, he would be concerned about the noise alerting whatever it is making it but as he gets closer, the sounds get louder. Loud enough to cover his footsteps, anyway. On top of that, he no longer hears just the thumping now. The closer he gets, the more clearly he can make out the sound of voices.

Eizen’s voice specifically. From where Laphicet is, the older malak’s voice sounds strained and is punctuated by grunts of pain.

Eyes widening, Laphicet races through the ruins as fast as his legs can carry him, the slap of his feet on stone surely alerting every malak and daemon in the vicinity.

He gets closer to the source still and he can make out more now. Velvet is with him—he can hear her moaning too!—and while the thumping is definitely the sound of a body hitting stone, the distinct clash of Velvet’s blade is absent. Laphicet worries that she has been too injured to move and Eizen is trying to fight something off to protect her. He hopes that isn’t the case, but he’s been around the Reaper long enough to expect this sort of thing.

He skids around the corner, paper in his hands and a battle cry on his lip when he sees…Well, he’s not really sure what he sees honestly.

The daemon and malak appear uninjured but that is all his brain can make sense of. Other than that, all he knows is that they are on the ground, Velvet is on top of Eizen, and his... _ oh _ .

Laphicet vaguely remembers seeing depictions of something similar in a biology book he read from the library while he was still under the Abbey’s control. The chapter was on reproduction but he hadn’t been able to make much sense of it at the time and he has never considered applying that knowledge to more humanoid species.

Now, though, seeing Velvet moving up and down on Eizen’s…

Laphicet’s face goes scarlet. 

“Ph-Phi?” calls Velvet in shock.

He turns tail and runs. It’s not until he’s made it all the way back to the camp that he realizes a high pitched whine has been bubbling from his throat the entire time.

“What’s wrong, Laphicet?” Eleanor moves towards him, concern evident on her face.

The boy just stares in shock. He’s not ready to face this yet; he needs time to process and make sense of and get over what he saw.

Magilou pushes past Eleanor excitedly. “What’s you see? What’d you see?”

He shakes his head. He really doesn’t want to talk about this.

The witch gasps and leans in closer to carefully take in his expression. “I was right!” She jumps up and down excitedly, circling Rokurou as she does so and waving her arms around in a strange dance while chanting variations of, “I told you so!”

“Told me what?”

“Eizen and Velvet are gettin’ it on!”

Rokurou and Eleanor look at Laphicet in horror.

“No...”

“Oh my goodness!”

They are upon the blond in an instant; questions and sentiments of distress pouring out of their mouths one after another.

Laphicet, on his part, can only stare blankly. He can’t process anything.

Anything except the rapid sounds of footsteps behind him and Velvet’s voice.

In his time knowing Rokurou, the small malak has seen his eye turn red once when he was in the heat of battle.  _ Once _ when he was in his element as a war daemon.  _ Once _ when he was intent on  _ killing _ his adversary.

And now again as he turns on Velvet and Eizen.

“Laphicet walked in on you having sex?” he booms.

The daemon and malak stop dead in their tracks. For once, neither of them seems to be able to play it off. Velvet’s face is a similar shade to her top and while Eizen isn’t outright blushing, his eyes are closed and he looks off to the side.

“Phi, can we talk to you?” Velvet asks. She’s trying her best to act as she normally does but it’s clear that she’s out of her element.

Laphicet looks at them hesitantly, turns his gaze back to the shocked faces of the rest of the group, and then nods. He takes a step towards them as Rokurou yells “You perverts are not giving him _ The Talk _ ! He’s seen enough!”

Eleanor puts her hand on the daemon’s shoulder and nods at Laphicet reassuringly before turning to comfort her friend.

Anticipation twists in Laphicet’s stomach. On the one hand, the absolute last thing he wants to talk to his friends about is their reproductive tendencies but on the other hand, he is finally going to learn what the dreaded  _ Talk  _ is…

Well, his curiosity has always gotten the better of him and it’s probably better to get this conversation out of the way sooner rather than later…

He follows them.

They head through the doors into the ruins. Thankfully they don’t go towards where he saw...what he saw; instead they turn left where a small and near empty room waits.

“So…” Eizen is looking everywhere but Laphicet. “I--er...Well, you probably have a lot of questions...”

Laphicet mimics Eizen by staring a hole into the floor.

“What you saw was...its--uh...adults sometimes…” The malak looks at Laphicet guiltily. “Wh-when people care about each other very much--” Eizen turns his gaze to Velvet pleadingly.

“No,” she says, seeing what can only Eizen’s version of puppy eyes. “No, no, no. You’re the one that wanted to give him  _ The Talk _ in the first place!”

“ _ I  _ didn’t want to give him  _ The Talk _ ! I just think he needs to hear it!”

“Oh, so you wanted me to do all the work? Typical.”

Laphicet decides to interject before things get out of hand. “Are you guys trying to tell me what reproduction is?”

Velvet blinks dumbly at him. “You...already know about sex?”

“If sex is another term for when animals procreate, then yes; I read a book on it when I used to sneak off to the library. It just...never really made sense until now.”

“Oh,” the Lord of Calamity looks both relieved and nervous.

“Yes, well, Velvet and I are not trying to have a kid. I don’t even know if malaks and daemons can reproduce…”

Laphicet tilts his head. “Then why were you doing it?”

The adults look at each other.

“It’s just something couples do,” Velvet dismisses.

“So you  _ are  _ in a relationship then?”

They both nod. “We were going to tell you, but with everything going on…”

“We decided to keep quiet until after we freed the Elemental Empyreans,” Eizen says.

“I see,”

Silence.

“So...do you have any questions?” the Reaper asks hesitantly.

In all honesty, there are quite a few things Laphicet has questions about regarding the act. Physically, he can’t wrap his mind around how Eizen’s…how Velvet’s…he just can’t figure out how they fit together. Besides physically, however, he’s also confused about why couples do it in the first place _.  _ What purpose does it serve? If it’s so normal then why hasn’t he heard about it before—why the secretiveness?

But honestly, Laphicet has had his head filled with strange enough information. He doesn’t know how much more he can stand and instead opts for shaking his head. He can look it up in a book later or, worst case scenario, ask someone to explain it to him.

“Okay then, if you ever want to know anything…”

The small malak nods to the older one and together they turn to walk back to the others.

The walk back is silent and more awkward than before but, simultaneously, he feels more at ease. He won’t have to question or speculate about what Eizen and Velvet are doing (in fact, he knows more than he ever wanted to); Magilou can’t very well send him on spying missions if there are no secret relationships for him to spy on.

No, despite the cumulative embarrassment they feel, the blond boy is more at ease than he has been all day. Just as they are about to walk back through the entrance and back to the camp, Velvet grabs Laphicet’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” she says. “You shouldn’t have had to see that,”

He reaches forward and gives Velvet a hug, smiling against her as he does.

“I forgive you,” Laphicet says softly.

He grabs her hand and reaches for Eizen’s to do the same. Together, they walk through the doors.

The others have relaxed since he was here. Eleanor is reading a book by the fire and, nearby, Rokurou prods at the logs. Even Magilou is subdued; she lies sprawled on the ground, her head on Eleanor’s lap as the ex-praetor idly plays with her hair while her feet rest on Rokurou.

The entire scene is oddly domestic. For moment, Laphicet just takes it all in and remembers how lucky he is.

And then the witch spots him, and chaos erupts.

To be fair, for once Magilou isn’t causing the chaos. She simply spots them, nudges Rokurou with her foot, and it’s all downhill from there.

The daemon is upon him in an instant; one-second Laphicet is standing contently with Velvet and Eizen and then suddenly he’s across the room with his face buried in Rokurou’s chest as he is given the most lung-damaging hug of his life.

“Air!” he gasps, pushing on the man’s shoulder desperately.

Rokurou pulls back. “Sorry,” he says sheepishly.

Laphicet takes a gasping breath.

“So, did you three work everything out?” Eleanor tugs on her sleeves in embarrassment despite her best efforts to remain stoic.

“We’re good,” Laphicet reassures.

“Not quite.” Magilou saunters over to them. “You two”—she points an accusing finger—“have something to tell us, isn’t that right?”

Eizen and Velvet look at each other in confusion.

“What?” the daemon asks.

“Oh, so you’ll give the details to a ten-year-old in all their twisted glory but you won’t even tell us that you’re fucking?” Rokurou glares.

“Look.” Velvet  seems to be fed up with the entire thing. “What Eizen and I do is our own business and while Laphicet shouldn’t have had to see that, we don’t owe any of you an explanation,” she says heatedly.

“That being said,” adds Eizen, “yes, we’re fucking. And before you ask, yes, we’re also dating.” His gaze turns hard and challenging, “Does anyone have a problem with that?”

“No one has a problem with it, we just thought you’d tell us, y’know,  _ before  _ the kid had to sacrifice his innocence for answers.” Rokurou crosses his arms.

“It’s okay, Rokurou,”

The war daemon startles slightly. Despite the fact that he’s been talking about Laphicet and has been concerned for his sake, he seems to have completely forgotten about the boy in his hold up until this moment.

“What?”

Laphicet smiles. “They had their reasons. I understand why they kept quiet.”

“But you walked in on them having sex!”

“But that wasn’t the intention,” he explains. “And now that we know, there aren’t any secrets between us.”

Silence.

“Have I ever mentioned how lucky we are to have you, Phi?” Velvet giggles.

The others soon join in, happily laughing away the awkwardness of the day.

And once again, everything is the same. Despite the massive revaluation that two of his closest friends are now more than friends, Laphicet sees very little change within the actual group. The incident is all but forgotten, and Eizen and Velvet aren’t being secretive anymore, although they don’t act any differently. They’re still just as hard on each other and they’re both still blunt and steadfast in their beliefs. They share soft looks or spend evenings alone on occasion, but, considering how Magilou made such a big deal of it in the beginning, nothing has really changed.

Laphicet finds himself selfishly wishing that nothing ever does.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments would be super appreciated since this is only my second fic and the first one I've ever uploaded  
> Oh and if anyone has any tags that they would like me to add or if they feel this should be rated M instead of T just let me know :)


End file.
